Courtly Connections: Anthony Sherley’sRelation of his trauels(1613) in a Global Context

Abstract

AbstractThis article revisits Anthony Sherley’sRelation of his trauels into Persia(1613), reading the text within the larger context of early modern Eurasia. It highlights the ways in which at least one European traveler sought and found not alterity, but commensurable structures, social roles, political ideologies, and personal motivations in the Islamic polities to the east and emphasized these connections to his European readers. Furthermore, in making the case that Sherley’s narrative is informed by local actors in Safavid Persia, it maintains that a certain level of Eastern knowledge is present within Western texts from this period and awaits scholarly excavation.